04.30.2012

Lee Roy Parnell blew into the national music scene like a warm wind from his native Texas with the 1990 debut album that bore his name. Eight more full-length discs down the line, he’s established as one of the most determinedly iconoclastic performers to emerge from Nashville’s music industry — unflinchingly eclectic in his embrace of blues, rock, country, jazz and anything else he chooses to dip into from his wide palette of influences. With a truly deep love of blues, he’s also an acclaimed wizard of slide guitar with an affinity for the Gibson Les Paul...

04.27.2012

For many players and collectors the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville, Tennessee, is a six-string Mecca, a nearly holy place where great instruments with the aura of history are created and re-created. And the Custom Shop’s most valued guitars are its Signature models and Collector’s Choice issues.

03.26.2012

Signature artist Les Paul and designer Ted McCarty get understandable credit in Gibson’s history. But they were not alone. One other key figure was Seth Lover. We now take humbucking pickups for granted – especially on a Gibson Les Paul – but it might not have happened were it not for Seth Lover.

02.18.2012

The Moderne is the great lost Gibson guitar. Shrouded in mystery and myth, its story has been passed around in dimly lit bars, cluttered music stores and thronging NAMM Show floors for almost six decades now. It’s elusive and desirable, partly due to its unique styling and partly due to its sheer unattainability for so many years. That’s all about to change (the scarcity, anyway: the Moderne will remain as freaky-cool as ever). But more on that in a moment. First, let’s backtrack.